http://www.nst.org/articles/IntroBooklet.pdf
What is the Gohonzon?
The object of worship in Nichiren Shoshu is the life of the true Buddha, Nichiren Daishonin. In order to save his disciples and believers who would take faith after his passing, the Daishonin inscribed his enlightened life as the object of worship, the Daigohonzon, thereby establishing the cause for the universal propagation of True Buddhism, and the securing of peace throughout the world. All Gohonzons enshrined in temples and homes of believers are transcriptions of the Daigohonzon and derive their power from it.
I found this Introduction Pamphlet during my own studies. It’s stuck in my mind this week, specifically that part about all Gohonzons deriving power from the Daigohonzon.
Disclaimer; if you’re an SGI member reading this, and don’t already realize that the history behind the establishment of a “super Gohonzon” is utterly lacking, you may want to just pass this up, specifically if your faith in your own Buddhist practice revolves around the notion that your team is number one because of the prior relationship with the Daigohonzon.
To continue, this pamphlet is reminiscent for me as it was not so long ago, in the early 80’s, that I enthusiastically embraced this theory of the Uber-Gohonzon making me the best, with the help of a priesthood with an unbroken lineage.
Lin-e-age;1. a. Direct descent from a particular ancestor; ancestry.b. Derivation.2. The descendants of a common ancestor considered to be the founder of the line.
Strange, I couldn’t immediately find a definition of lineage that fits religion and magic.
Anyway, much has changed within me from those initial days of Buddhist practice. I have long since questioned the very validity of the idea of a “lineage”, something that continues to follow and haunt me in my martial arts training and research. “Lineage” ultimately leads to arguing about who has it, and who doesn’t. In the end lineage is an utter intangible - it’s “magic”, the way magic really exists in the world of human beings.
The Gohonzon
“All Gohonzons enshrined in temples and homes of believers are transcriptions of the Daigohonzon and derive their power from it.”
Power. Derives power from it. These sorts of ideas are where the rubber meets the road in religion. In the end if you are a competing sect or cult, you have to have an exclusive product. You can’t afford to market something that can be found anywhere. Alcoholics Anonymous fails miserably as a cult in this respect with their “higher power” philosophy. If you want to have a successful cult (which Nichiren Shoshu has not been until the advent of the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai) you can’t push something that is easily obtained, rather you need an exclusive product that only you can provide.
NSS knew this long ago, in one form or another. And so they have evolved the magical, utterly non-Buddhist concept of the Super Gohonzon, the Daigohonzon allegedly commissioned by Nichiren in 1279 as the ultimate purpose of his life’s work.
Creating a pseudo magical object representative of his ultimate teaching - that’s the act of a truly deranged, and frankly stupid man.
Yeah, I said it. Jealous?
Objects are stolen, destroyed, lost and worst of all, they’re fought over.
I have studied the Gosho personally and consistently since I began practicing in 1985. There is nothing I have ever read that was attributed to Nichiren to indicate he was crazy, stupid or utterly lacking in historical perspective, which he would have had to be to do something as insane as creating a single super Gohonzon.
But I digress…
This power thing has interested me - well - forever. Where does this power come from? The Daigohonzon, supposedly composed of camphor wood, has no physical principles that would allow it to contain power, or energy of any sort.
This is my problem with these non-Buddhist “magical thinking” concepts - they butt right up against physics. Now the Christian Scientists, the Evangelicals, witches and Voodoo priestesses and the like, they’re ok with visualizing power coming from somewhere or nowhere. Physics however attempts to view the world in accords to unchanging principles, (for the most part, I’m not a physicist, but I know one).
Power, or energy exists in finite forms, to the best of our current scientific knowledge. Wood does not conduct electricity. Where in the Daigohonzon would energy be stored? Where in our Gohonzons at home is energy received? I do know quite a lot about data communication and I am quite certain that my Gohonzon does not have a modem, wireless or otherwise.
Funny as this may all sound to someone who in invested in Nichiren Shoshu, this is really what it boils down to. Energy is a quantifiable entity. Energy transference is a tangible and scientific process involving physical matter.
The moment you tread the path down “magic power transferred magically to other magic objects” you have utterly left behind the world of Buddhism and stepped square into a big pile of magic Harry Potter doo-doo.
All of this being said, Nichiren Shoshu isn’t messing around. They’ll stick to their story, including the Daigohonzon, one single antique piece of carved wood, being the cause for world peace.
They will because they believe it’s their product, and they’re going to stick with the marketing plan pure and simple, as any good corporation should.
Soka Gakkai is different in this respect. They don’t need magical objects, and they don’t need to market themselves with “We’re number one!!!”. One of these days they’ll understand this, I hope. Until then, continuing belief in magic will always be a weak link for any Buddhist group silly enough to muddy their own waters of clear Buddhistic reason with it.
Having said this, I have come up with an idea of my own. Given the state of digital micro-technology, and batteries small enough to fit into greeting cards, I have some ideas for the Gohonzon of the future, one which actually counts and logs daimoku using Bluetooth tech, and complains verbally if you miss morning Gongyo, sort of like a Nichiren Buddhist Tamagotchi. Now THAT’S power!
Rev. Greg